Interactives

With its roots in the old pastime of "battledore and shuttlecock," badminton's origins go back to a simple game of leisure. At the Olympics, however, the pace of the sport is anything but casual. Differentiating it from other racket disciplines, badminton replaces a ball with a shuttle - which can go faster than any other object in any other sport. Explore that and other details from an event that has made quite the competitive transition from backyard barbeque to Summer Games stage.